In a word, yes. At least, it can. Easily. Unless you control it.
If you are contstantly checking your Twitter updates throughout the day, you are letting it control you. In order for you to be productive, you need to be in complete control of your day.
The nature of Twitter makes this more difficult than controlling your e-mail. With e-mail, you can check in when you have time and all of your e-mail will be there. With Twitter, what is there is constantly changing. If you are following alot of people, you will have a lot of scrolling and reading to do. Turns out a lot can be said in 140 character segments.
In order to better control Twitter you will need to do several things.
1. Follow Interesting People
Who this is will be different for everyone. Find out who you like to follow and then focus on them. Of course, this can be a little tricky, because it is considered polite to follow people when they follow you. Consider this, though. Are the right people following you? If you have followers who are just following you so you will follow them, then the only worth for either of you is the larger number in your followers box. It is better to have fewer followers who are actually interested in what you have to say. Plus, you are more likely to be interested in what these followers have to say as well if you follow them back.
Take your time to add followers. Read what they have to say before you just randomly follow them. Get to know a few people at a time. When someone follows you, follow them back if what they have to say is interesting to you.
2. Sort Your Followers
For those of you who choose to follow everyone who follows you and more, you will need to find a way to sort your followers. I use a service called TweetDeck for this. I can put those that I follow into different categories, such as favorites, business, or politics. I still get a general feed from everyone, but I can better follow those people that I find most interesting.
3. Check On Schedule
Avoid going to Twitter at random times, or checking it obsessively. If you create a list of interesting people to follow and set up groups, you will be able to go back and read comments when you have time.
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Remember, Twitter is a tool. When using Twitter, try to do it for a reason. If you use it to socialize, thats fine. Do it after work hours. If it is part of your business plan, focus on being productive with it, and don’t get distracted by the latest entertainment news that everyone is Twittering about.
If you approach Twitter with a plan and don’t overdue it, it can become a great asset for your business. Make sure you use it as a two way conversation. Give as you take. But don’t let it become a drain on your productivity.
